1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a method for determination of the supported position of a patient in a magnetic resonance apparatus, as well as a magnetic resonance apparatus operating according to the method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the examination of a patient in a magnetic resonance apparatus, the patient can be supported in eight different positions. The patient can be positioned head-first or the feet-first, lying on his or her back or his or her stomach, or lying on the left side or on the right side. The detection of how the patient is currently positioned, consequently how the patient is thus arranged with regard to the coordinate system of the magnetic resonance apparatus conventionally ensues by an operating person that inputs the patient positioning into the apparatus computer at the beginning of the registration procedure. The input of the (expected or intended) patient position typically ensues before the actual positioning of the patient. If the patient positioning does not coincide with the manual input in the registration procedure, this can lead, for example, to a right-left inversion of the resulting image. This means that the identification of right and left in the acquired images does not correspond to the actual position of the patient in the magnetic resonance apparatus. This can lead to severe consequences in later operations; for example, as has actually occurred, the right kidney being operated on instead of the left. The subsequent correction of an incorrectly-entered patient position is complicated. Precise and correct detection of the patient positioning thus has a large importance, but the conventional procedure is error-prone.